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Flexibility

Flexibility makes me happy. And I don’t mean the kind that leads you to do an excellent Downward Facing Dog either. I mean the kind that lets me do chores during the week so I can spend my weekend on things like:

  • Going to a movie, no matter how bad or poorly adapted from a beloved comic
  • Visiting the Smithsonian Folklife festival because this year the program not-sucked more than it sucked
  • Flying a kite on the mall
  • Reading the entire Sunday paper without feeling rushed
  • Sleeping in (both days!)

I mean the kind that lets me work at home today in my bright, sunny room with all the windows open and the sounds of birds and a nice breeze instead of in my cold, artificially lit hole in the ground at the office.

Hoorah for flexibility!

Things that make me go aaaahhhh

  • Sunrise over the ocean.
  • Sand between my toes.
  • Salty water on my face.
  • Frozen custard with a dip and sprinkles…yes, I canMaking the “Need more custard” light go off (chocolate/vanilla swirl with a dip and sprinkles anyone?)
  • Having the locals recognize that you aren’t a touron and greet you like they would a resident.

Now, if I can just figure out how to move to the beach…

It’s full of cornflowers

The space around the subway station in my neighborhood has been virtually abandoned. The transit authority does the barest minimum to maintain what they consider to be their property (this does not include picking up trash) and the city does absolutely nothing to maintain the property on their side of “the line.”

As a consequence, the area near the overpass becomes a dumping ground for those too lazy and stupid to carry their refuse another 10 feet to the bin. Except for a few weeks in the middle of June when the corn flowers take over.

Rangy, thick stalks spend most of May shooting up, up up from fist-sized clumps of scraggly leaves. Then, suddenly, one day in June they bloom. Petals in Fibonacci series two and three to a stalk from corner to corner defying the trash throwers and the car exhaust.

In a few weeks they’ll be gone but for now they make traveling to and from almost pleasant.

Letting go of the fear of looking stupid

I was a physical daredevil as a kid; I knocked out my two front teeth playing Evel Knievel on my bike (they were baby teeth anyway) but somewhere along the line I lost my adventurous spirit and stopped taking risks of any kind.

I’m thinking about investigating a physical art, a discipline, and the idea scares me. Not just because of my age and the growing fear of getting physically hurt that comes with it, but more because this discipline is the kind that it takes years and years of practice at to become even a skilled beginner. Yet, it appeals to me because the very core of it is balance, the harmonizing use of energy to become more aware of yourself and the world around you. So do I take the risk and look potentially like a big fat idiot in front of people with more skill than I? Do I trust the “propoganda” of the dicipline that says that nurturing beginners is one of its core values? Or do I stay in my shell and convince myself without even trying that it’s really not for me.

How to over come this fear of looking foolish I do not know but it is, I think for me, the key to taking more risks.